Two pieces of a puzzle
by InitialStartup
Summary: Midorima has been involved in a one sided love with Takao. Too afraid to confess his feelings, he keeps them to himself. When Takao gets into an accident, however, things start to change. Takamido, rating might go up in later chapters.


**A/N: Hello to all! Just gotten back into writing fanfiction lately, hope you enjoy this TakaMido fic that's been in my mind for quite long! :) Will update by this week! **

**Note: This is Mido-chasing- Taka, but its TAKAMIDO. ;)) Enjoy! **

It had been almost a year since he'd fallen for the point guard.

Midorima Shintarou's black polished shoes clanked against the sidewalk as he made his way down to the road junction to wait for Takao to pick him up. A pot of cactus, his lucky item today- "_Nii-san, you shouldn't bring such a dangerous item out!"- _was tightly held between neatly taped fingers, almost too tight that he felt the fragile pot would break at any moment from the intense pressure. Its not like he could help it, though. It wasn't any part of his fault that cancers were placed last in Oha Asa's rankings today. All he was doing was putting in all the effort that he can to prevent any unlucky happenings from occurring. Today was no exception. Midorima's pace slowed down to a stop as he stood in front of the junction, waiting.

"Shin chan!"

Takao halted noisily in front of said shooter, jerking forward roughly. Midorima waited for the laughter.

"Pfft! A cactus? Are you kidding me?" Takao giggled as he dramatically wiped a stray tear away from the corner of his eye, "It looks like your hair!"

As expected from the raven haired boy. Midorima felt a vein pop at the back of his neck. Although, it was difficult to not be pleased at hearing Takao's melodious laughter. Appalled at himself for having such a thought, he quickly erased it from his mind, face burning slightly.

"Shut up, Takao," he replied briefly, climbing onto the cart carefully with the cactus in one hand, "get going. We're going to be late."

"Yes, ace sama!" As energetic as always, Takao pedaled enthusiastically down the busy streets of Tokyo. Initially, even though he had utterly hated the embarrassing idea of carrying a cart around roads, with a 190 cm man seated at the back nonetheless, the point guard had gradually grown to enjoy their daily routines of going to school and back. It was amusing, if you thought about it. Which normal high schooler would get the opportunity to do such unusual things at such an age? Even since meeting Midorima, his life had taken a 180 degree turn, turned more interesting, more _meaningful. _It wasn't the monotonous life back in middle school, where he had nothingto live for. Now, everyday, he realized about six months after meeting the shooting guard, he was actually having fun for once in his life, being around Midorima.

Having fun around Midorima.

Takao let this thought sink in slowly.

What was he, gay?!

The raven haired boy cautiously glanced back at his partner. To his surprise, he briefly caught Midorima's eye. Emerald and black met. Midorima jerked backwards violently and quickly adverted his gaze, looking back hastily at the road, with a tint of red on his ears.

"W-what!"

Takao smiled. His ace was really cute, despite the intimidating aura that Midorima gives off to people most of the time. _Tsundere, _Takao thought fondly, _even though he's at the bottom of the social ladder, he doesn't really care. _

There was a pregnant silence between the two as they reached school. Midorima's constantly active mind was now whirling in embarrassment from the incident, coming up with endless possibilities to explain why his heart had started beating faster and why his cheeks felt intensely warm. Moreover, what Takao thought when their eyes met. Had he suspected why Midorima was looking at him? Will he put 2 and 2 together?

Midorima sighed in frustration.

_He probably doesn't feel the same way._

Over the past year, he'd gotten accustomed to the point guard's presence, to the constant chattering and cheerfulness that he's been showered with. At first, all he thought was that Takao should stop bothering him. Why couldn't some like-minded, maybe someone like Akashi, befriend him? Why did it have to be someone noisy, with absolutely no manners, no shame, and who _made fun _of Oha Asa be his one and only friend in the school? He had done nothing to deserve such an unlucky fate.

Although, Midorima quietly (and unwillingly) admits, Takao is the perfect partner for him in basketball. And slowly, he'd come to realize, Takao is his perfect partner for everything.

((They simply complete each other, like two pieces of a missing puzzle.))

Midorima started to realize his feelings for Takao around summer last year. He remembered when they had to attend the Summer Festival, when his stomach started to tie strange knots as Takao casually grabbed his hand as they tried to squeeze through the crowds of families and couples, how he thought the other looked cute when he pouted because candy apples were supposed to be preordered instead of bought at the event, how they tried to look for goldfish scooping only to find out that there was a long queue. Lastly and finally, how Midorima felt content, for the first time in his life, that he was glad to have Takao's presence beside him as they watched the blast of firework colors explode into the raven night sky. That night, he couldn't stop thinking about his black haired partner. At first, he thought that maybe he had come down with something.

Then he'd come to realize, for the first time in his life, he'd fallen in love.

"I'm going to this way now! See Shin-chan after school!" Takao's voice was sharp, enthusiastic, happy. It broke Midorima out of his thoughts.

The shooter waved goodbye quietly to the point guard, completely forgetting about the fact that Takao had been one of the class representatives chosen to go on the leadership trip that happens twice a year. Even though Midorima had thought it was a waste of time, Takao had , on the contrary, been excited and anxious to get chosen as the next class representative to go.

"It's a good learning experience! Not to mention, the teacher in charge is _hot. _I could stare at her all day. She's got the sweetest voice ever! Hey, Shin-chan, don't you want to go with me?"

Midorima had been tempted, to make sure that Takao didn't get hooked up with some female teacher, which made his heart ache painfully. He declined after realizing that the location was far away from Tokyo and his rank was one of the last ones then.

"Stupid Takao," he thought, "its not like I care about your objects of desire."

Thus, after the point guard had left, Midorima spent an unusually quiet day alone in school by himself. He took down notes diligently (and made two copies just in case one of them got destroyed, not for Takao, of course), listened carefully in class, paid extra attention to basketball, and went to practice his shots after everyone had left.

It wasn't until 7PM when he was told the news.

The teacher had walked in gravely, with beads of sweat dripping from his forehead. Midorima had thought of it as unusual- teachers don't enter the basketball court often- and being the only one left, he stopped shooting and turned to look at the adult.

To his surprise, the teacher approached him as well.

"Midorima," he began, clearing his throat, "something happened to Takao during the trip. He's in Tokyo's General Hospital's emergency room right now, and he won't be coming to school for the next few days."

The teacher then looked at the shooter and scurried away quietly. The whole court turned silent. Only the soft and gentle whirl of fans could be heard. Midorima's throat became dry at the news. It was as if the air around him had decreased by several degrees. Something heavy pressed on his lungs, making it difficult to breathe. Had it been an accident? Fire? Something serious enough to land Takao in a hospital? He imagined the point guard, bruised and battered, lying lifelessly on the bed as surgeons operated on him. Midorima felt his whole body turn numb, his knees shake as the will to stand seeped away from his legs.

"Takao is...?"

He didn't dare to finish that sentence. A thousand possibilities came rushing into his mind. Scolding himself for thinking about such a thought, he packed his things as quickly as he could and hailed the first taxi that drove down the street. Right now, all he needed was to see him. Know that his partner was alright. Pray for his safety.

_Please don't take him away from me._

In the school court, a lone cactus sat on the benches, along with numerous basketballs scattered messily cross the court.


End file.
